I've been thinking that I should get back to sharing actual concrete moments about my life, even the most minute, boring things, the way I used to when I first started Wonderless. five years ago. (Also, shit, five years?!) So, here's a summary of how I've been for the past few months, as told mostly through shitty phone pics.
I finally started a real zine collection when I attended Lit UP 4 in June. It was a fundraiser for when the Faculty Center was destroyed by a fire in April, with a mini-bazaar held by independent presses and zine purveyors. There were performances by bands and spoken word poets, too, but once I got what I came for, I bolted out of there and waited for my dad at a McDonald's like a loser. (Double loser, because I saw people from school and pretended I was invisible.) Then I came all the way to Escolta for some zines by Sarah McNeil. Then in July I attended Local Loca's Kontrabando at Cubao X.
I'm obsessed with everything I've gotten so far—they're all so interesting and funny and well-written and intricate and creative. The illustrations and photographs are really good, too, of course. Some of my favorites are Strangers and さまよいます by Aga de los Santos, featuring film photographs taken in Japan; I've Gone Away by Alyssa Africa, a glossy, gorgeous collection of snapshots from her travels; and Feels;21 by Shin, which is full of drawings that convey existential dread, sadness, and dry humor.
Nothing much to say about this, really. I just love the lighting and I was pretty excited to have brought Annie out again, since I hadn't really used her since Singapore.
I was out grocery shopping with my parents at this place in Valenzuela and they had all these plastic cats and dinosaurs scattered throughout. I caught these cuties in a compromising position. I wasn't having the best night at the time but I really want to go back to that supermarket!
I saw the prettiest minimalist repurposed plastic dinosaur planters outside shoemaker and designer Maco Custodio's studio, which happens to be located right along Tandang Sora, very close to where I live. I was there to interview him. It amazed me, and we talked about this, how burgeoning creatives can be found right in the far north, in areas like Novaliches, among auto shops and everything. His studio, which is near his apartment, is in a really home-y compound. You never would have guessed. We were surrounded by his sketches and works in progress, listening to slightly outdated pop music on his radio, safe from hard rain. It was a really cool day for me.
I got to do a behind-the-scenes/fly-on-the-wall feature on AlDub that I think turned out pretty well—I was never a fan but it was pretty cool witnessing all those raw moments and writing about them. I got to sit (well, stand) in while they filmed an episode of Real Talk and kind of felt like I was Rachel McAdams in Morning Glory. People said the whole Harvest Moon thread felt a little too convenient, but I swear that was the real deal! They also said they liked the piece, and it made our little "10k Club" with thirty thousand views (!), so I was really giddy about that, even if I did make a mistake that went viral thanks to an oversight when I was transcribing what they said during the interview. (I was mortified, of course.)
On July 30th, CNN Life partnered with Ayala Museum for its annual Inspire Every Day event, which doubled as the website's official launch. In the morning I attended a talk by Keiji Ashizawa about his project, Ishinomaki Laboratory, at the Met. Then I had lunch at Harrison Plaza's Village Square, which has an indoor koi pond surrounded by benches and bisected by a tiny bridge under a skylight. I loved that it was practically deserted, and, again, how it feels frozen in time. I wish I could've stayed longer, but I was on a pretty tight schedule.
I arrived at Ayala Museum a few minutes before my afternoon shift and visited the exhibits before clocking in, so to speak. I helped give away free totes at our interactive booth (more of a box, really). It was three hours of standing and speaking to all kinds of people, but I surprisingly had a really great time and I'd do it all over again, no questions asked. Near the end, I got to meet the other girls manning the booth with me and, honestly, it was just so nice hanging around with and speaking to them. They helped me rearrange the huge 3D Life logo to form my name; easily one the day's highlights. Then I took the P2P (a double decker!) on the way home and discovered the magic of Wendy's chicken nuggets. Really.
So, about those darn MSTs. Despite being saddled with regular priority for preenlistment, I actually got the three I needed. "You're lucky," the really kind woman who printed my Form 5 told me. And I guess I am—but more than that, I was someone who spent two days lining up for those slots in the middle of the night. I spent the first night with Cheska and the second alone with Saturday Night Live and two kind night guards.
I learned that hard work pays off, but there's a lot of luck involved, indeed. I learned that I love any kind of endless night in general, no matter who I'm with or where I am or what I'm doing, because I kind of had the time of my life. Also, dawn's favorite habit is sneaking up on you.
This little guy can be found near the bike racks outside the Math building! He is quite the big ball of fluff. I should visit sometime.
I love how matchy-matchy the colors are! The photo on the left is the cover of an academic study published by SUNY that I found in Booksale. The photo on the right features a pair of adorable tiny snails I hung out with while waiting for a jeep in the rain. The waiting shed was (slowly) crawling with them.
I wanted to replace Enid Coleslaw on my sidebar with actual-me. And I wanted to give myself the reverse coloring book treatment for a change. I just wish I could fill in the lace details on my top! I have to say, though, that it turned out to be a nice little exercise in self-actualization. I'm not usually big on self-portraiture or anything like that. (Unless you count all the confessional me-me-me writing, ha!)
This is a screencap from when I watched The Nice Guys last month and really liked it. I thought the subtitles were a nice touch. And, well, yep. Me too, bud.
